American Red Cross Ready Rating Program Helps You Get Prepared

The Ready Rating program is designed
to help your business or organization get better prepared for
emergencies. Below are the five cornerstone preparedness actions of the
Ready Rating program. When you join the Ready Rating program, you'll get
access to a detailed Ready Rating Program Guide that guides you through
each of these steps. This condensed version of the Program Guide is
designed to provide a snapshot of how the American Red Cross can help
your business get better prepared.

The 123-point Red
Cross Ready Rating 123 Assessment tool and Ready Rating 123 Program
Guide are the result of a comprehensive review of preparedness
recommendations conducted by the American Red Cross National Office of
Preparedness and Health and Safety Services, the national Ready Rating
team, and the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council. All Ready
Rating program steps and recommendations are grounded in scientific
research, best practices and/or expert opinion from respected
professionals representing multiple disciplines and perspectives.1. Commit to preparedness

This
step indicates your commitment to increasing your business' or
organization’s level of emergency preparedness during the course of the
calendar year. You will be working to make your business or organization
more prepared and to enhance overall community preparedness. Key actions for this step include:

Having your business or organization make preparedness a priority by having senior leadership involved

2. Conduct a Hazard Vulnerability AssessmentThis step involves
gathering information about possible emergencies that could impact your
business and your facility’s capabilities to respond to and recover
from a disaster or other emergency. Key actions for this step include:

Knowing your region and the types of disasters most likely to impact your business

Considering which hazards your facility is most likely to experience, based on proximity and past events

Knowing your business or organization’s current capacity to prepare for, respond to and recover from a disaster

Assessing the physical capacity, supplies, equipment and human resources of your facility to resist damage during a disaster

3. Develop an emergency response planAn emergency
response plan describes the steps your business or organization will
take to protect your business and employees before, during and after an
emergency. Key actions for this step include:

Identifying an emergency planning committee that is responsible for developing and implementing an emergency response plan

Developing a written plan describing how your business or organization will respond during a disaster or medical emergency

Creating a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP)

4. Implement your emergency response planThis step involves
continuing to work with the planning committee to implement the
emergency response plan with employees. The key to implementing the plan
is to make preparedness a part of the corporate culture. Key actions for this step include:

Training employees on a regular basis about what to do during a disaster or emergency

Showing
employees how to be prepared at work and at home so they are better
equipped to help the business respond to and recover from an emergency

Conducting and assessing regular drills and exercises to determine the readiness of your employees and facilities

5. Help your community get preparedNow that your
company and employees are prepared, make at least one additional
commitment to ensure that the overall community is prepared for a
disaster or other emergency. Key actions for this step include:

Hosting blood drives

Contributing supplies and/or services to emergency response efforts

Adopting a local school or school district and support their disaster and emergency preparedness program